NEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow ended
Tuesday's session flat after mixed economic data and retail
earnings, while the Nasdaq had another record close with help
from technology stocks.

U.S. manufacturing production showed its biggest increase in
more than three years in April, bolstering a view that economic
growth picked up early in the second quarter despite a surprise
decline in homebuilding.

Investors were also cautious about potential delays to the
government's tax and regulation reform agenda after reports late
Monday that President Donald Trump disclosed highly classified
information to Russia's foreign minister about a planned Islamic
State operation.

"There's a lot of political data but not a lot of economic
data that's changing the landscape," said Paul Nolte, portfolio
manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago.

"It's a combination of earnings and better-than-expected
industrial production, countered with concerns about future
economic data and the fact we continue to see weak retail
sales," said Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones
in St. Louis.

"With the consumer being more than two-thirds of economic
growth, if consumer spending is weak, can we continue to see
solid economic growth?"

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 2.19
points, or 0.01 percent, to 20,979.75, and the S&P 500
lost 1.65 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,400.67, easing from an
intraday record high of 2,405.77.

The Nasdaq Composite added 20.20 points, or 0.33
percent, to 6,169.87, a record close for the index.

Only two of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors closed higher, with
technology providing the biggest boost. The sector
rose 0.5 percent, with an outsized boost from Microsoft
, which rose 2 percent.

Soros Fund Management disclosed late Monday that it more
than tripled its stake in Microsoft, which also benefited from
investors' focus on security.

"A lot of technology right now is driven by worries about
cyber security, as investors believe more companies will have to
upgrade their computer systems," said Edward Jones' Warne.

Authorities around the globe scrambled to prevent hackers
from spreading the "WannaCry" ransomware that has infected more
than 300,000 computers in 150 countries. Cyber security
researchers have found evidence they say could link the attacks
to North Korea.

The S&P's financial sector ended the day with a
0.2-percent gain. Utilities were the S&P's biggest
decliner of the day with a 0.8-percent drop.

UnitedHealth and Pfizer were the S&P's
biggest drags. Pfizer fell 1.6 pct to $32.60 after Citigroup
downgraded the drug developer's stock to "sell," from "neutral."

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.24-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.01-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 61 new 52-week highs and 12 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 133 new highs and 60 new lows.

About 6.4 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges
compared with the 6.8 billion average for the last 20 sessions.
(Additional reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru;
Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Nick Zieminski)